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Original poster

So, how bad is it near you?

141 replies

LoudestRoar · 22/12/2018 11:32

DH was in Asda by 8am thos morning, and he said it was carnage.

The local town centre has had hour long queues for the car parks the last couple of days, with warnings it's going to be worse this weekend.
Luckily, we're all done now, but is any one else stuck in the chaos?

OP posts:
MorrisZapp · 22/12/2018 17:11

I got free gin at Aveda and free Baileys in the tartan tat shop.

DeadCertain · 22/12/2018 17:15

@VanGoghsDog you're very welcome; I have never worked in retail before - it's an eye opener!!

fussychica · 22/12/2018 17:20

Walked into town as usual, we rarely take the car.
The traffic looked pretty similar to a normal Saturday, busy but not terrible. Waitrose was pretty quiet. Nothing like last year. I'll be popping in again tomorrow or Monday for a few bits but won't be driving anywhere.
Strange how it varies so much between locations.

redyawn · 22/12/2018 17:22

Went to Sainsburys at 9am. Was quieter than on a normal Saturday.

24hoursfromtulsa · 22/12/2018 17:29

Went to our 'big' Sainsbury's just after lunchtime. Bit busy but really not bad at all. Not much of a queue at the checkout.

Only negative was that they were out of pigs in blankets and panettones.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 22/12/2018 17:32

DH went to local Morrisons and Asda today and said it was only a bit busier than a normal Saturday. We are in a major city.

MrsFezziwig · 22/12/2018 17:36

Sainsbury’s at 11 busy but copeable (though good point about the sideways trolleys, LittleLlama - the dozy couple at the front of the queue were taking up the same amount of space as the 3 of us behind them with sideways facing trolleys) 😇

Have still a couple of things to get (only because sell by dates were shorter than I wanted) but if it’s too bad tomorrow my nearest big supermarket is walkable so I won’t have to wait in queues of traffic. Certainly doesn’t seem as bad as in previous years when there were even queues to get in the car park at midnight.

MrsFezziwig · 22/12/2018 17:40

24hoursfromtulsa I struggled to get pigs in blankets and cream last year so made sure I got those today (thought Sainsbury’s had run out of PIB but then discovered a little stash of them in an out of the way corner)

PeroniZuchini · 22/12/2018 17:41

V chilled in Aldi at midday today!

sparklepops123 · 22/12/2018 17:44

I was in Asda at 5.45 this morning nice and empty except amount of staff packing home deliveries. Cardboard all over the floor like hurricane been through. Asda guy said it was packed at 11.30 pm previous night

PickAChew · 22/12/2018 17:45

Not been bad up here. We even went into the metro centre for a bit, at lunchtime. No worse than a typical November Saturday and the buses were quite quiet.

NapoleonsNose · 22/12/2018 17:48

Went to Tesco at 6.45 this morning. Always go early doors to avoid the crush. Was absolutely fine and we were home by 7.45.

Both DC work in the same supermarket in the uni holidays. DS started at 10 and said the queue for the self checkout was 20 deep and the queues for the normal checkout were back up the aisles!

Apart from a few bits I forgot this morning, that's us done till the NY

Lauren83 · 22/12/2018 17:49

I went to a huge Tesco near Manchester at 8am on my way to work and whilst there were a few at the tills the place was pretty empty

MrsFrankDrebin · 22/12/2018 19:59

Got boned and rolled turkey breast at our local butcher this morning at 8am - got more than needed, divided and froze the portions. Roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots all par-roasted two weeks ago and in the freezer to have their final 20 minutes on the day. Sprouts in the fridge today (they will be fine in the chilled drawer until Tuesday).

Lots of other bits and pieces in for between Christmas and the new year stored chilled or frozen. And yes, I work. More than 'full time'.

But - and maybe this is what makes the difference - it's only for the four of us. No family to entertain, no parties to host, or unexpected 'drop-ins'. (If it is the difference, then I'm pleased - even if it makes me sound like a Scrooge!) But basically that's us done now with food shops until well into January! (And I'm working on the 27th!)

Juanbablo · 22/12/2018 22:31

Went to Tesco this morning. It was rammed and dh didn't like any of the turkeys. He suggested going to Waitrose. I politely told him he could drop me and the DC's off at home and go to Waitrose by himself if he wanted to. DC's were being a complete nightmare in the shop, I had a banging headache and just wanted to go home. It turned out for the best but he did say Waitrose was chaos.

feellikeanalien · 22/12/2018 22:37

Went to our local Tesco Extra yesterday and took half an hour to get out of the car park. Lots of people were being really arsey and not letting others out.

EssentialHummus · 22/12/2018 22:42

Sainsbury’s at 9am was busy but not rammed (giant Sainsbury’s, zone 2 London).

Ariela · 23/12/2018 00:44

WHY are you all still shopping so near Christmas?? I always buy anything not destined for the fridge/freezer in the couple of months beforehand, I keep an eye on everything and buy when on offer, usually saving 25-50%. Then my veg I buy from a farm shop 7-10 days before, leaving just a top up of milk, fresh bread and the butchers for the turkey (all pre-ordered) in the next village over 1-2 days before.

Must admit I went into town on Saturday (yesterday) and found it devoid of traffic (this was 2pm), as I had to pick up a friend and we went to visit somebody, journey took half the usual time which was great.

VanGoghsDog · 23/12/2018 01:18

I've no idea why my sister didn't buy everything she needed until so late, it's possible she had other things to do, who knows.
But the reason I was shopping was because she couldn't buy something she needs and she lives very ruraly so if she goes to a supermarket that's the one she goes to and if it doesn't have what she needs it's at least twenty miles to another one. Whereas I have about twelve all within ten minutes of me, and I had to go out anyway (to buy some lights, because my friend who is an electrician came to my party last night and stayed over so offered to replace them all for me but I'd not had time to buy them before), so could go and get it. Luckily I found it at the first Tesco but to be fair I asked the guy in Toolstation if they sold it (I was joking) and he said no but he had seen it in Tesco that morning.

ItWentInMyEye · 23/12/2018 01:28

Apparently my local Asda and Aldi we're both shocking Saturday morning. We went to Aldi at 8.30pm which was fine, and Asda after that which was slightly busier. Nothing unmanageable though

Miljah · 23/12/2018 01:45

At 8.30am today, there was no Gruyere at my Asda.

None.

So we drove over to Waitrose to get it! Triumph! Except it weighed less than a matchbox and cost £3.15. But we all knew that Boxing Day's gammon in coke dish would be ruined without Gruyere in the gratin, didn't we? 😂

Zoflorabore · 23/12/2018 01:58

I went to Asda in Huyton tonight ( one of the biggest ones in the country ) and was shocked, it wasn't busy.
Previous years the checkout queues have been down the aisles and I've spent an hour checking out at least.

The only 2 things I couldn't get were profiteroles and pigs in blankets.
There were mountains of fresh veg all 20p.

Staff said they're expecting the rush any minute. I went between 6-8pm as had a look upstairs at George and house stuff.

Upsy1981 · 23/12/2018 07:47

I'm shopping so near to Christmas because I am currently having terrible freezer issues. The one inside the house freezes everything like the arctic circle so you can't actually open the door to access anything and when you do, most stuff is ruined as it is totally coated in a thick layer of ice. The small one in the garage doesn't work if temperature drops too low outside so I did not want to risk stocking that up (memories of rushing out for pigs in blankets on Christmas Eve after just recovering from noro because the freezer had defrosted itself and I hadn't realised due to noro so they'd all spoiled are still fresh in my mind!) So fresh it is for us at the moment. Am planning on sorting the freezer issues in January sales so hopefully next year I will be super organised!

MrsFezziwig · 23/12/2018 08:47

It’s a pity they don’t have a sort of satnav thing for supermarkets, so you could see when the queues were chaotic and when it was quiet and plan your visit accordingly. I think people only go at midnight because they think it will be quiet, then their hopes are dashed when they realise everybody has had the same idea.

EssentialHummus · 23/12/2018 08:48

mrs if you google the store you sometimes get that data (not specific to xmas but busy times generally).